That wasn't lamplight shining out of Pete Lopez's office Thursday while the rest of Schoharie slept.
It was starlight.
Times-Journal 2011 Star-light.
For showing all of us the way out of--and beyond---the destruction that was Hurricane Irene, Pete Lopez, neighbor, state Assemblyman, friend, is the 2011 T-J Star.
With virtually all of his Assembly district impacted by Irene, Tropical Storm Lee or both, Assemblyman Lopez, like many of those around him, has been working full-speed toward recovery since August 27.
He's just had to juggle more than most:
Parents lost at the height of the storm, flooded-out staffers, his hometown devastated, and Governor Cuomo stopping by.
Again.
"I think all of us in the middle of it were just trying to focus and stay on task," Assemblyman Lopez said Thursday, looking back.
"We just internalized it all and kept running. We didn't give the rest"--including the possibility of the Gilboa Dam breaching--"further thought. We just shut that off."
Ironically, Assemblyman Lopez was headed home from the New York Power Authority's Blenheim-Gilboa Dam after a post-earthquake inspection by Governor Cuomo on August 27 when the weather started turning serious.
"It was at the Route 30 bridge outside of Blenheim, when I saw the water cascading down the rock ledge and starting to shut off traffic, that I first started getting concerned," he said.
"All I could think was 'Holey moley.'"
Assemblyman Lopez went straight to his parents' Main Street, Schoharie home to check on them-they were packing to evacuate to Schoharie Central School-and then on to the Emergency Management Office in time to hear DEP Deputy Commissioner Paul Rush call for evacuating.
"I asked him: 'You're telling us to get the hell out of there?' and he said 'Yes.'"
Even as his parents--Pedro and Barbara-were being evacuated to another site, Assemblyman Lopez heard from his wife, Lisa, and daughter, Steffy, that they couldn't get out of town; the road was already blocked.
The two ended up staying with a stranger who opened his home to them-a scenario that quickly became commonplace--as the Assemblyman's parents went missing, were found, and then went missing again, sleeping in their car two nights before family caught up with them.
The senior Lopezes are now living in Driftwood Apartments, missing their yard and gardens.
Their home-the home Assemblyman Lopez grew up in across from the school-has been sold.
"My dad kept some of his tools, but they're at loose ends," Assemblyman Lopez said.
"It's the same for so many people here...it's been unrelenting and there's such a feeling of loss. I know we'll find our way back. We might not look the same, but we can do it."


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